Navigation

I’ve told you about how to get your free credit reports, so now let’s move on to the next scam-laden field of personal finance: credit scores. The U.S. government requres the credit reporting agencies to give you your credit reports for free at least once a year, but they’re under no obligation to do the same

That $100 or more you pay each month for the privilege of owning an iPhone sure can sting when it’s time to pay the bills. There are lots of ways to get that number a little lower, though: 1. FAN Discounts: Check if your employer gets a discount. In many cases all you have to

Now’s a good time to get a handle on 2012 taxes as those W-2s and 1099s start arriving in the mailbox. Once you’re ready to wade in, I’d recommend TurboTax Online. Filing your federal taxes is free for those with simple returns, though they do charge for state returns. And for the rest of us

Watching late-night TV, you’d think that credit reports are something you can expect to pay for — often as part of a monthly charge for generally useless “credit monitoring” — but it’s all a lie. Don’t ever pay for credit reports. You’re legally entitled to a free report from each of the three major

You already know you can get your credit reports from the three big credit reporting agencies once a year for free, right? But those reports don’t include your credit score, which is the magic number that rates your credit-worthiness and has a huge effect on your ability to get a loan — or sometimes even a

For years Target offered a run-of-the-mill store credit card that gave you a discount on your first purchase after signup. Yawn. I’d stopped paying attention since store credit cards are almost always a bad deal for consumers, so it took me a while to notice when they made the deal a lot sweeter. They still

If your car insurance provider is like mine, there are lots of hidden discounts available just for working in certain industries, being a member of certain groups, or even subscribing to the right publications. In some cases it’s their way to reward you for being a member of a statistically safer demographic (e.g. AAA has

LivingSocial is a local-targeted deals site in the same vein as Groupon. Both offer localized deals — get a $50 gift certificate at a restaurant or spa in your town for $25, for instance — but LivingSocial generally has higher-end deals and also offers side deals on vacation packages and other items.